Jacob Sullum on Colorado’s Softer Version of Reefer Madness

Last week the
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment unveiled a
new ad campaign aimed at scaring teenagers away from marijuana by
warning them that it might damage their brains. Then again, it
might not. As the campaign itself intermittently acknowledges,
claims that marijuana causes lasting neurological impairment remain
controversial. But why take a chance? That is the state’s message
in a nutshell. Hence the slogan: “Don’t be a lab rat.”

As anti-drug propaganda goes, writes Jacob Sullum, Colorado’s
campaign, which was prompted by fears that teenagers will be more
inclined to smoke pot now that it’s legal for adults, is relatively
subtle. In one TV spot, the
camera circles a dark, smoky car full of teenagers passing a pot
pipe. The captions read: “Scientists at D and restrained. But
Sullum says the campaign nevertheless exaggerates the strength of
the evidence linking adolescent pot smoking to brain damage as well
as the level of risk facing the typical adolescent pot smoker.

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